Fiddle | Andrew Small | Intermediate | Period 1 | Week 3 (July 20-24, 2026)
With a focus on fiddle-driven dance music, we’ll delve into the living traditions of the Blue Ridge region of Southwest Virginia. We’ll examine strong, danceable rhythms and the patterns behind them as we cover an array of richly stylized material and discuss ways to add character and regional flavor to your playing. We’ll learn tunes from some of the great SW Virginia musicians like Emmett Lundy, Norm Edmonds, Peg Hatcher, Bill Shelor, Matokie Slaughter, Harold Hausenfluck, and others. Join me as we get to the heart of our Blue Ridge music traditions!
About the Instructor
Andrew Small is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and composer who makes his home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwest Virginia. He travels the world fronting the traditional bluegrass band The Alum Ridge Boys & Ashlee and performing old time country music as half of the duo Ashlee Watkins & Andrew Small. Originally from Eastern North Carolina, Andrew holds a master’s degree in music performance from Yale University and has performed around the world with artists including Sierra Hull, Mandolin Orange, and the North Carolina Symphony. From 2018-2023 he toured with Bill and the Belles and also played bass in the house band for the PBS television show Farm and Fun Time.
An avid proponent of traditional music styles from the Blue Ridge region, Andrew had the honor of serving as the inaugural Artist-In-Residence for The Crooked Road – Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail. In 2022, he completed a Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship with master fiddler and National Heritage Award-recipient Eddie Bond of Fries, VA. Andrew’s prowess as a singer, old time fiddler, banjo player, mandolinist, guitarist, and bassist has won him countless prizes at contests and festivals around the world, and his bands have won first place in old time and bluegrass categories at the most celebrated fiddlers’ conventions in the South, including those in Galax, VA and Mount Airy, NC. In 2025, Andrew was awarded first place in the old time fiddle contest at the Appalachian String Band Festival in Clifftop, WV, and his string band The New Floyd County Ramblers also won first place in the traditional band category.